JACKSON, Miss. — Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely fought U.S. Senate race, making him the state’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction, The Associated Press reported.
The AP called the race Wednesday after local election officials spent several days processing absentee and provisional ballots, known in Mississippi as affidavit ballots.
The narrow win marks a major shift in a state long dominated by white conservatives, and it adds to what the AP described as a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party lost races in several Republican-leaning states.
Colom, a district attorney, said during the campaign that he could represent all of Mississippi. “It’s got to be about having a party that represents rural America again, suburban America, urban America,” he said.
The race drew national attention late, as Democrats poured money into Colom’s campaign. His ads drew notice, including one responding to Hyde-Smith’s remark that consumers facing high beef prices could choose other proteins. In the ad, voters said they would “pick another senator instead.”
Trump held a rally with Hyde-Smith in Corinth, Mississippi, in late October.
Colom is the son of a onetime Republican who worked for President Ronald Reagan, according to the AP.
Sources: KTAR News/AP, NPR. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: author of article is Edward C. Mayes; photographer not specified / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
